Sky successfully adjust in Tour after loss of Siutsou

Sky rides on the front in the Tour de France today from Samatan to Pau, but missing one man. It may be hard to believe now, but the team went from nine to only eight riders with the crash of Kanstantsin Siutsou shortly after the race started in Liège.

“He has sent messages to me and has wished the team all the best,” sports director, Sean Yates told Cycling Weekly. “He misses us and we’re missing him.”

On the twisty roads to Boulogne-sur-Mer in Northwest France, Siutsou crashed and fractured his left tibia. He was only one of three riders who accompanied Wiggins on his winning rides in Paris-Nice, Tour of Romandy and Critérium du Dauphiné. Losing him ahead of the first mountain stages seemed like a massive blow.

Sky has bounced back well. It took the yellow jersey with Wiggins and ruled the race over the last two weeks.

“I think, obviously, we’d love to have Kosta here. When you’re riding along and everyone’s attacking, you do sort of think that it would’ve been a luxury to have him,” Richie Porte told Cycling Weekly. “The other guys stepped into that role, like Christian [Knees] and Mick [Rogers] have just killed themselves.”

Siutsou was due to ride at the front in the flats and in the first kilometres of the climbs. Without him, as Porte said, the roles have been shifted and the pressure distributed.

The race travelled through the Alps and yesterday, entered the Pyrenees. Siutsou comes from Belorussia, but after a few days in Paris, took a flight back to his base in Villongo, Italy, to be with his wife and two children.

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“It’s two to three months before he can get on the bike,” Yates said. “Most crashes, within a week, you’re back on your bike. When you’ve got to stay in bed for months… You feel damn sorry for the guy.”

Yates and Siutsou trade messages about his and the team’s progress. It’s gone well, even without Siutsou. Wiggins leads by 2-05 minutes over team-mate Froome. Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas-Cannondale) is another 18 seconds back.

“Everyone’s improved with the fact that Bradley’s in yellow and Froome’s in second. It’s lifted the whole team, we all know what it does when you have the leader in the team,” Yates continued.

“Bernie’s [Eisel] been fantastic on the road as a captain in the flat stages. He’s a great leader. [Mark Cavendish] Cav’s been doing his bit, chipping in and riding on the front, coming back for bottles. We’ve all adjusted.”